permits for visiting scholars

[Gayle Hansen]

       A list of contact people and permit requirements for each country
       would be a wonderful thing to have, but I can foresee some
       complications:  I have a feeling that the regulations for
       collecting and exporting plants or animals will vary with the
       group of organisms collected, whether they were alive or dead
       on collection, how they are preserved, how many are taken, the
       purpose of the collections (some countries are sensitive about
       pharmaceutical use studies), who you collect with (a local
       scientist or not), and also with the area of the country in which
       the collections are made.

       I have just compiled a list of seaweed-collecting regulations
       for the west coast of North America excluding Mexico (with
       nothing in it about exporting specimens).  Within the United
       States, the collecting regulations and permit requirements vary
       from state to state.  I believe that this is true in Mexico as
       well -- but, after a year of trying to get copies of the actual
       Mexican seaweed-collecting statutes, I have given up.  In some
       countries, it almost seems like you must be arrested or fined
       before this information is given out.  I am certain that
       scientists would be more up-front and honest about their
       collections if this information was more readily obtainable.

                                      Gayle Hansen
                                      Oregon State University
                                      hanseng at ccmail.orst.edu